blue jays

Debut Poetry Collection: Watershed

Rae SpencerLeave a comment

I’m delighted to announce that my first poetry collection, Watershed (Kelsay Books), has been released in paperback and Kindle ebook formats. The paperback ($20/US) is available through the Kelsay Books website (here) or through Amazon (here), while the Kindle ebook ($9.99/US) is available through Amazon (here). (For more details, I’ve created a permanent page for Watershed here.)

Watershed front cover: a pale sunset image of clouds and sky over a pool of water, which reflects the clouds and sky, surrounded by seagrasses and shrubs. Text on the cover reads: Watershed, poems, Rae Spencer.

The poems in Watershed are mostly autobiography, written within my nostalgia for the landscapes of Tennessee, my journey into Virginia’s coastal landscapes, and my tenuous understandings of how “growing up” changes my gaze.

Photograph of a chickadee fledgling perched on our deteriorating fence. The young chickadee is shedding downy nestling feathers, while the fence’s aged wood is cracked and weathered.

As I pondered this post, how to introduce my debut collection, I finally grasped the word connection between debut and debutante. How ridiculous to contrast myself–middle-age, married, and profoundly awkward–against the idealized debutantes of historical romances.

Photograph of my reflection in a window. My face is hidden by the camera I used to capture the image. My graying hair is shoulder-length in tangled layers. I’m wearing a sleeveless shirt, so the tattoos on my hands and arms are visible–an ink collection of flora and fauna.

And yet, here I am, a debut author sending my first poetry collection into the world. I’ve loved every minute of the process, from the writing to the planning to the organizing to the submission to the rounds of editing after acceptance, all the way through this final phase of setting up author pages and posting announcements. I suppose all of this means that I’m finding my way.

Photograph of a brown thrasher fledgling hiding in a nook between a planter and our fence. The little fledgling is brown-and-tan-striped with the exaggerated beak, forehead, and eyes that render baby birds endearingly cute.

Finding my way to where?

To here, for now. To exactly where I am.

Photograph of an osprey passing overhead with a large fish grasped in its talons. The osprey’s muscular wings are fully extended, long tan-striped primary feathers spread at the tips, and its sharp beak and eyes are turned toward some unseen destination.
Photograph of a blue jay in the process of taking flight from the top of our wooden fence. The blue jay’s wings are extended, tiny black feet stretched into its launch. The bird is carrying in its beak a peanut, selected from a small pile of peanuts we left on the fence.

To a small yard in a sprawling suburb, somewhere in the middle of life’s extremes, poised between the lush luxuries of nostalgia and hope. There’s always something precarious on the horizon, but, for today, I’m here.

Photograph of a hummingbird perched on a woody vine of honeysuckle. There are no honeysuckle blooms in frame, so everything is green and brown, including the hummingbird’s feathers.

The following links lead to articles, essays, and posts that are more important and more interesting than my debut poetry collection:

Blue Jay Fledgling Update

Rae Spencer3 Comments

Blue Jays June 9

The blue jay fledglings continue to visit on a daily basis, always together. They rarely venture more than a few yards from each other.

Blue Jays June 9

They are beginning to forage on their own, sampling insects they find in the grass and on the fence, but they haven’t started eating from the feeder.

Blue Jays June 11

Blue Jays June 9

Blue Jays June 9

Blue Jays June 11

Blue Jays June 11

I suspect most of their foraging behavior is driven by curiosity, rather than hunger. Their parents keep them well fed.

Blue Jays June 11

Blue Jays June 11

Blue Jays June 9

Both of them.

Blue Jays June 9

A few days ago, they discovered the water. They drank and bathed, copying their parents.

Blue Jays June 11

But they also spent a great deal of time dropping things in the dish. Leaves, worms, small twigs–almost anything they could pick up went straight into the water.

Blue Jays June 11

They seem to have solved the water’s mystery, since that first day, and I haven’t seen them testing it again.

Blue Jays June 11

I wonder if their parents watch them, like I do, and feel a twinge of pride as the fledglings explore and grow.

Blue Jays June 11

Storm Interlude

Rae Spencer5 Comments

Rabbit May 21

Tropical Storm Andrea’s rain passed over our area this morning, and now the wind has arrived. Reason enough to stay indoors and organize the archive. Here are a few photos that I’ve been saving for a rainy day.

Blue Jays June 3

Dragonfly May 28

Chickadee May 31

Unknown Bird May 17

The bird in the above photo moved through the yard too fast for me to get a good look at it. I would love some help with identification, if there is enough information in the photo.

Also with the next bird, which I believe is a brown thrasher?

New Bird June 6

I hope Andrea’s rain and wind prove to be nothing more than an inconvenience to everyone in its path…

Blue Jay Fledglings

Rae Spencer2 Comments

Blue Jays May 28

A pair of sleepy blue jay fledglings visited the yard this morning. When I approached they stirred a bit, mirroring my curiosity.

Blue Jays May 28

Then they settled back to their naps as I entertained myself imagining their morning adventures. How exciting it must be, to discover that you have wings! And to explore a world that multiplies and expands with every new tree and every new yard.

Blue Jays May 28

Exciting, but also exhausting.

Blue Jays May 28

Wings in the Yard

Rae Spencer2 Comments

We bought this speedwell because it was advertised to attract butterflies. I haven’t seen any butterflies on it, but it draws a lot of wasps.

The wasps chase everything away from the speedwell’s bed, but Blue Dasher dragonflies patrol all the other beds.

And, as predicted, Halloween Pennants have begun to arrive.

The bird feeders get less traffic than the flower beds, but not by much. Doves are our most frequent diners. And the hungriest. This one ate so much it could barely fly.

Doves are the most numerous birds in the yard, but the blue jay fledglings are the loudest.

However, their cries cannot compete with the Blue Angels, who are in town for a weekend airshow. The show’s flight path takes them right over our yard…